Empower Advisory Group LLC Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 97,437 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,165 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,160,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,405 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,726,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the period. Carrera Capital Advisors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.3% during the third quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors now owns 3,995 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $663,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co grew its position in Alphabet by 12.4% during the third quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 15,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,625,000 after buying an additional 1,743 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP increased its holdings in Alphabet by 193.8% in the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 6,534 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,084,000 after buying an additional 4,310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 27.5% in the third quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 12,445 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,064,000 after acquiring an additional 2,685 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.9 %

GOOGL stock opened at $169.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.43, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $127.90 and a one year high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $168.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.